Mahershala Ali's True Detective character was originally written for a white actor

Variety

Ali tells John David Washington in a Variety Actors on Actors conversation that he was originally offered the supporting role on the third season of the HBO series because the lead actor was written to be white. But Ali convinced by creator Nic Pizzolatto to cast him after texting him pictures of his grandfather as a state police officer in real life. “I was like, ‘See, we existed in this space. In the ’60s and the ’70s. State police officers,'” Ali recounts. “I was like, ‘I think your story would be served, I think the story would be improved in this case, if this lead character was black.'” Ali adds: “I could’ve played that second lead, that supporting career. But in my mind, I was like, ‘I’ve done this my entire career though. I’ve never done that,' At that time, I’m 43 years old. If it don’t happen now, it really may not happen.”